A Bacchanal of Children
Plaquette
ca. 1500 (made)
ca. 1500 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Plaquettes are small plaques made of bronze, brass, lead or precious metals. They originated in the 1440s with the desire to reproduce coins and hardstone engravings from ancient Greece and Rome. Some were made as collector’s pieces, to be viewed and displayed in private, and others for practical purposes. They also inspired designs in other media, from architecture to bookbindings. The rimmed edges on independent plaquettes such as this suggest that they originally formed part of a larger casket. This one is an impression taken from a triangular sandbox used for sprinkling sand on to ink to dry it.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | A Bacchanal of Children (generic title) |
Materials and techniques | Bronze |
Brief description | Plaquette, bronze, depicting a Bacchanal of children, school of Riccio, Italy (Padua), 16th century |
Physical description | Trapezoidal bronze plaquette depicting a Bacchanal of children. To the right, Pan is seated playing a fantastic lyre and accompanied on the syrinx by a child. A crowd of children lead a goat to him, one boy is falling off the goat's back and another bestrides a crawling satyr who is sucking the goat's udder. Double moulded rim above and below, the background minutely punched. |
Dimensions |
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Credit line | Salting Bequest |
Object history | From the Salting bequest. |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | Plaquettes are small plaques made of bronze, brass, lead or precious metals. They originated in the 1440s with the desire to reproduce coins and hardstone engravings from ancient Greece and Rome. Some were made as collector’s pieces, to be viewed and displayed in private, and others for practical purposes. They also inspired designs in other media, from architecture to bookbindings. The rimmed edges on independent plaquettes such as this suggest that they originally formed part of a larger casket. This one is an impression taken from a triangular sandbox used for sprinkling sand on to ink to dry it. |
Bibliographic references |
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Collection | |
Accession number | A.419-1910 |
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Record created | October 20, 2004 |
Record URL |
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